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240 Sierra Match King
- Thread starter littletoes
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Broz
Well-Known Member
Well it is about 1 year later, any new news on the 240 SMK's ?? I am looking at them for a 300 build. What is the optimum twist for them ? Sierra told me a 1 in 9 but will a 10 twist work well?? I am looking to get the tightest groups I can at 1000 yards consistantly.
Jeff
Jeff
elkaholic
Well-Known Member
I didn't read thru all the posts so someone may have already covered this? I would warn that even though it may look good on paper in most areas, It WILL NOT expand reliably below 2000 fps and sometimes even higher than that depending on what you hit. I would recommend the A-Max every time in situations where velocity falls below about 2500. For what it's worth.....Rich
jmden
Well-Known Member
Broz,
I ended up going to the 210 Berger not too long ago, as I was pursuaded by those such as elkaholic, above about the the 240 not performing at long range, and yet, there is Kirby's post earlier in this string that seems to indicate reliable expansion at ranges well over 800yds, from 300 AX of course doing nearly 3200fps MV. I also was tired of the copper fouling. This is a factory barrel with probaly 1400+ rnds through it, so keep that in mind as you consider my experience. This barrel has never cleaned up very easily. I seem to get much less copper fouling with the 210, or, that may be related to Gun Juice treatment, hard to say. I'm shooting a load that Exbal says is at about 2993 ave. MV with 94.7g Retumbo and -.010 for an OAL of about 3.83", fyi. I'm finding this easier to shoot accurately consisently as well than the 240. May be due in part to a non-braked rum and a load producing less energy and recoil than that I had with the 240. Used Jerry Teo's load tuning article from a month or two ago and came up with this load in relatively short order--seem to work for me. Here's a couple of pics of consectutive groups shot at different ranges prone at my long range shooting spot:
Edit: You can see some of the craters from the 240 that at 1/2 mile still cratered this 1/2" steel plate at or nearly to 1/4" deep with the 3K MV load I had last year. That 240 hits really hard and is one of the things that got me thinking about what it might do on an animal at longer range. This 210 load doesn't quite do that. Right side of picture is down in pic immediatley above. Used Exbal a couple of timesfor traj. validation to come up with 2993 MV at the longer distances as I was obviously low with this group at 883 and then nailed the milkjug at 1004 quickly. Very happy with the performance of this load on this home smithed/accurized rifle and old factory barrel.
Just what I'm doing. Your 'results may vary'! Good luck with your build and keep us up to date, please. Jon
Edit: Regarding twist rates. If you get a chance to reach Bran Litz's book, do so. His discussion there and cranking a few numbers let me to believe that 1:10 was fine for the 240. You might email Bryan and Berger or pm him here.
I ended up going to the 210 Berger not too long ago, as I was pursuaded by those such as elkaholic, above about the the 240 not performing at long range, and yet, there is Kirby's post earlier in this string that seems to indicate reliable expansion at ranges well over 800yds, from 300 AX of course doing nearly 3200fps MV. I also was tired of the copper fouling. This is a factory barrel with probaly 1400+ rnds through it, so keep that in mind as you consider my experience. This barrel has never cleaned up very easily. I seem to get much less copper fouling with the 210, or, that may be related to Gun Juice treatment, hard to say. I'm shooting a load that Exbal says is at about 2993 ave. MV with 94.7g Retumbo and -.010 for an OAL of about 3.83", fyi. I'm finding this easier to shoot accurately consisently as well than the 240. May be due in part to a non-braked rum and a load producing less energy and recoil than that I had with the 240. Used Jerry Teo's load tuning article from a month or two ago and came up with this load in relatively short order--seem to work for me. Here's a couple of pics of consectutive groups shot at different ranges prone at my long range shooting spot:
Edit: You can see some of the craters from the 240 that at 1/2 mile still cratered this 1/2" steel plate at or nearly to 1/4" deep with the 3K MV load I had last year. That 240 hits really hard and is one of the things that got me thinking about what it might do on an animal at longer range. This 210 load doesn't quite do that. Right side of picture is down in pic immediatley above. Used Exbal a couple of timesfor traj. validation to come up with 2993 MV at the longer distances as I was obviously low with this group at 883 and then nailed the milkjug at 1004 quickly. Very happy with the performance of this load on this home smithed/accurized rifle and old factory barrel.
Just what I'm doing. Your 'results may vary'! Good luck with your build and keep us up to date, please. Jon
Edit: Regarding twist rates. If you get a chance to reach Bran Litz's book, do so. His discussion there and cranking a few numbers let me to believe that 1:10 was fine for the 240. You might email Bryan and Berger or pm him here.
Last edited:
Broz
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the replies. I did talk with Bryan today and then ordered a Kreiger 29" 1 in 10 twist. I am going to stick with my origional plan of the 210 VLD's for now. The 210 VLD has been very good to me in the past, and has taken everything from black buck antelope to Elk and many deer in between all DRT.
Thanks!
Jeff
Thanks!
Jeff
elkaholic
Well-Known Member
jmden.....Kirby can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think he was referring as much to reliable expansion at over 800 yds as he was stating that a larger bore makes a larger hole whether it expands or not as compared to say a 6.5......Rich
A litttle search will show that the SMK debate has been beat to death the last 7 years here.
Botom line they are very effective despite what some think. The 240s are particularily effective and accurate.
Here is an example.
http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f19/why-do-you-use-smk-bullets-big-game-14132/
BH
Botom line they are very effective despite what some think. The 240s are particularily effective and accurate.
Here is an example.
http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f19/why-do-you-use-smk-bullets-big-game-14132/
BH
Broz
Well-Known Member
BH, I was searching for 240 smk data when I found this thread, and I don't doubt the performance on game of an SMK. I have logged my own data with the 300 smk from my lapua. To date, several yotes out to 800, antelope 482, 500, 691, 710, 713, 820yds, deer from 300 to 1137, Elk 526 and 1130 yds. Never tracked or lost one animal. My quest was to find accuracy from a 300 win, I am comfortable the 210 Berger will do well as I have taken much game with it and seen good groups at 1000 too. But I was interested in data on the 240 as far as twist and group size at 1000 from a 300 win. Please don't think I was looking to fire up an old debate, not at all, I was just looking for first hand data.
Here is a pic of an elk I took at 526 yards with the 300 smk from my Lapua. And the recovered bullet. I would expect the 240 to preform simular. No debate , just good data and everyone can draw their own conclusion.
Thanks to all for their replies.
Jeff
Here is a pic of an elk I took at 526 yards with the 300 smk from my Lapua. And the recovered bullet. I would expect the 240 to preform simular. No debate , just good data and everyone can draw their own conclusion.
Thanks to all for their replies.
Jeff
liltank
Well-Known Member
My brother-in-law and his family use a 30-416. He runs them somewhere around 3000+fps. He holds the family record of 1400yrds on whitetails, and his brother dropped an elk at 1550yrds two years ago in Idaho. The 240SMK has been a very successful bullet for them.
Hope this helps in your decision,
Tank
Hope this helps in your decision,
Tank
jmden
Well-Known Member
Are any of you guys using the 240's also using H50BMG?
One reason I went to the 210 Berger this season (have killed three biggame animals from 60-450 yds with 240's and was fairly happy with performance) was that I purchased a new lot of US869 and couldn't get the velocity I had with the previous lot.
H50BMG looked like I could get about the same velocity (~2920fps 26" 300RUM) as the new US869, but with a more temp stable powder. I never found US869 to be very temp stable, not that it is advertised as such.
I've heard from a couple of folks here that have found H50BMG to be very temp stable in the chamberings they'd used it in, so thought I might consider that if I get back into the 240's. However, at this point, I'm selling the 240's I have if anyone is interested:
http://www.longrangehunting.com/for...ce-sorted-172-ct-70-shipped-conus-only-48896/
One reason I went to the 210 Berger this season (have killed three biggame animals from 60-450 yds with 240's and was fairly happy with performance) was that I purchased a new lot of US869 and couldn't get the velocity I had with the previous lot.
H50BMG looked like I could get about the same velocity (~2920fps 26" 300RUM) as the new US869, but with a more temp stable powder. I never found US869 to be very temp stable, not that it is advertised as such.
I've heard from a couple of folks here that have found H50BMG to be very temp stable in the chamberings they'd used it in, so thought I might consider that if I get back into the 240's. However, at this point, I'm selling the 240's I have if anyone is interested:
http://www.longrangehunting.com/for...ce-sorted-172-ct-70-shipped-conus-only-48896/
elkaholic
Well-Known Member
Try some T-870 from Thunderbird cartridge in Az. It's the same as the discontinued H-870 from Hodgdon. I'm pretty sure you'll reach TOP velocity with it.......Rich
